Thursday, 22 June 2017

A
stoner/doom trio from Illinois is how Earth Witch are
described and it is very accurate! Their debut album “Out of the Shallow” is most definitely for fans of Sleep, High on Fire and The Sword. There are massive riffs on offer and the
tracks have quite a range to them, too. You get mellow and bluesy swaggering
muscular grooves and psychedelic Sabbathgoodness elsewhere.

Simply
put Earth Witch have delivered one of the albums
of the year, every track is a winner. Every riff is massive. The production is
raw and warm. Everything sounds big. Everything sounds heavy and for that Earth Witch need to be applaudedfor delivering a fantastic and heavy record and
today it is our great pleasure to welcome the band to talk us through their top
5 stoner doom albums, as
we take our weekly trip into the extreme and turn the volume all the way up to
11. Why do we go to 11, because its one louder

Kyuss - "Welcome to Sky Valley"

Kyuss really started to come into their own on "Welcome to Sky Valley", their
third full length and first with member changes and being on a major label. I
mean, "Blues for the Red Sun"
is equally killer, but "Welcome..."
encompasses all of the best song writing elements the desert rockers had been
honing in on. While Queens of the Stone Age
emerged out of its ashes (and was actually my introduction to the band), they
never really could get back that "desert rock" vibe that still puts Kyuss at the top of the fuzzed out stoner rock genre. I
love driving across the literal desert and jamming this on tour, specifically "100 degrees" - a short n'
sweet banger. Has that loner rebel feel to it, while still most definitely
makes you want to head bang right into the van's dashboard. Might be why so
many bands try to copy their sound to this day. I reach for this record
before QOTSA, Fu Manchu, Hermano, or any of the other killer projects that have come
after. This one hits the spot every damn time. - Nathan

The Sword -"Age
of Winters"

"Age of Winters" is one of
the few albums we as a band can all agree on as an essential influence. Super
catchy and always driving 70's inspired heavy rock. I don't think I need to go
into great detail on this one as everyone with a slight interest in the genre
has probably spun it multiple times over. What I personally dig most about this
record is not just the amount of rad tempo changes, but how syncopated the
drums and guitars are throughout. Gives it such a huge, yet overall tight
sound. -Nathan

Sleep - “Holy
Mountain”

Is it a little too on the
nose for us to put a Sleep record on this
list? We don’t give a shit; everyone cites Sleep because they are
the masters of the genre! The rhythms and grooves throughout “Holy Mountain” influenced our style
heavily, and Matt Pike and Al Cisneros’ guitar and bass tones were a good point
of reference for Ivan and I when we were figuring out our sound. Wave after
wave of riffs pummel your brain, yet the overall cohesiveness and flow of the
album keeps you interested throughout. Cisneros’s work on the album personally
influenced my playing style for Earth Witch, as he adds
these crazy bass fills in most the songs that are certainly noticeable, yet not
too overbearing where it distracts the listener from the rest of the song. It’s
also rad that a three-piece band like Sleep can sound as full
as they do, which is another thing we strive to do with our music. The mix of
driving rock and heavy doom on the album is a formula Sleep
perfected, influencing us and a slew of other bands over the last 20+ years. - Derrin

Danava - "Hemisphere of Shadows"

Our drummer has long been involved in running his own independent label and
distributing a variety of tape and vinyl releases. During a period where he was
operating his own store front in Illinois he had become quite the authority in
turning us all on to the best records and one such day he suggested “Hemisphere of Shadows” by Danava and I promptly purchased it. I got home to give it a
listen and could not believe the amount of riffs this band could cram into
their songs. Their guitar sound was really unique compared to most heavy bands
sporting tones with crushing amounts of distortion and gain, Danava had a more classic slightly driven crunchy tone and
derived more of their heavy qualities from the precision and intricacy of their
riffs. The record was definitely inspiring to Earth Witch
as we moved from our early primarily doom focused sound to a more intricate
riff laden heavy rock. The record also set some aspirations for how I wanted to
approach recoding. One of my favorite tracks on the record is “I Am The Skull” which has an awesome
break where they shift into this sweet keyboard solo. Ever since I heard that
track I had to write a song with a keyboard solo, even if it was just for the
studio recording I had to do something cool like that. -Ivan

Harvey Milk - “A
Small Turn of Human Kindness"

Individually the members of our band sport quite an eclectic range of musical
tastes from bands like Converge to Captain Beefheart or Christian Death to Husker Du. I recall about six years ago I was on a kick of
listening to exclusively weird avant garde and noise rock type music. Nothing
but Naked City, Captain Beefheart,
US Maple and Ruins (Japan). I
remember I was hanging out with my friend Greg listening to music and he threw
on this band Harvey Milk and recall being completely
blown away by how heavy and diverse their sound was. Dynamic shifts in volume
and mood presented this wholly unique form of heavy music that was as
bludgeoning as it was vulnerable. I became a huge fan of the group and they
kind of provided a gateway into reinvigorating my interest in heavy music. “A Small Turn of Human Kindnes”s is one
of their best albums. It encapsulates the pure raw qualities of the group.
Creston Spier’s howling vocals has never been more heart wrenching than on
tracks like “I Did Not Call Out”.
The spacious quality of the drum sound as demonstrated in the opening of “I Alone Got UP and Left” cultivates
such an empty feeling in the pit of your stomach. Few other albums showcase so
well the power of sonic and emotional force a three piece band can produce. -Ivan

Band Submissions

To those bands who have recently issued their first demo or album via bandcamp and would like to be featured on our 666 Pack Review or considered for a full review or stream please contact Aaron via email including your EPK, band bio, album file or download code, including artwork.

To those bands issuing their sophomore record and so on and would like to be considered for a review or stream on the blog. Get in touch using the same address above

We will consider bands from any genre but exclusively stoner, sludge, doom, psych, post-metal, experimental, black-metal etc. (Whilst I would like to respond to every email, this is not always possible.) Thanks